Jewett Patent Legs for NC Amputees-- Part 3

From the July 26, 2010, www.microkhan.com "The Yank Who Helped Save the South."

Amputations made up 3/4 of battlefield surgeries during the war and artificial limbs were in great demand. The Captain Ahab wooden stump limbs were an easy fix, but uncomfortable and seriously curtailed a man's productivity.

Massachusetts inventor George B. Jewett patented the leg just months after Appomattox. His creation even featured a self-oiling mechanism.

He had his company at the corner of Park and Tremont streets in Boston and he did a big business with the former Confederate states with North Carolina leading the way. It became the first former Confederate state to offer artificial limbs to its amputee veterans. The General Assembly passed the resolution in February 1866 to provide legs or an equivalent sum ($70) to men who couldn't use them.

Artificial arms weren't offered until 1867 (or $50).

--Old Secsh